Suppose you were promised $1,440 each day that comes to $525,600 a year. That could never be reduced or changed in your whole life. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Actually, we all do get 1,440 a day—but in minutes, not dollars. 1. It’s possible to get more money, but you can’t make more time.
Many of the management practices that help people make good use of their money can also be applied to your “time currency”. But the question is, are you a good manager of your time? 2.
Find out where your time is going now. Write down everything you do in a day. Include work, study, cooking and meals, cleaning and household maintenance, sleep, family time and mindless activities such as watching TV and getting lost in social media.
3. Ten minutes of planning can save you an hour of time and helps stretch the time you have, and you’ll see pockets of time you can use for things you want to do. “Once people have a clear picture, they actually do have a lot more time than they realize.” Clark, the founder of the Purposeful Planner says.
You can also set limits. Use kitchen timers, phone reminders, apps or other timing devices to stay focused and work more productively, suggests Janine Adams, certified professional organizer of Peace of Mind Organizing.
4. When you have missions to run, instead of making three separate trips on three different days to buy groceries, office supplies or home store products, integrate them—visit all three stores in one trip. It’s more efficient to finish “little one-off” tasks together rather than deal with one at a time throughout the day.
At the end of the day, week, month and year, take a look at how well you’ve managed your time. You’ll see where you could do better and where you’ve completed what you set out to do. Booren compares this progress check to reviewing your annual “financial statement”.
5.Do that over and over and “it forms habit and becomes natural.” Booren says.
A.Try these simple steps to take control of your clock and calendar.
B.Time is one of the most precious and limited resources for people.
C.Grouping small tasks into one job proves to be helpful in daily practice.
D.The most important tasks are not always the same as the most pressing tasks.
E.Focus on what you’re doing and avoid having to repeat the same process twice.
F.Invest a few minutes at the beginning of each day or week to plan and organize.
G.Take time each day to reflect on your achievements and set goals for tomorrow.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Your children's education doesn’t have to stop after school. These game apps for your iPhone, iPad and Android will keep your youngsters’ minds active outside the classroom. Of course, let your children play the developmental games in moderation.
Elmo Loves 123s
Help your children identify and count numbers from 1 to 20 and do some simple calculation. Everyone's favorite furry character, Elmo, and Abby Cadabby will guide kids along the way. （under five years,$4.99; iPad）
Habitat the Game
Players adopt a virtual polar bear and must complete real-world actions, such as turning off lights and conserving water, to keep the creature healthy. Kids will take pride in making an actual difference in the world with these exciting games. (4 years+, free; iPhone, iPad, Android)
Disney Story Central
Bedtime just gets a lot less painful thanks to Disney Story Central. The large selection of e-books star Disney characters, such as Mickey Mouse, the princesses, and Doc MacStuffins. Plus, the bookworms will earn awards as progress is made day by day.(2 years+, free for iPad for the first 4 books, with additional purchase packages starting at$4)
GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine
GoldieBlox, the toy company focusing on inspiring girls to become innovators, has created GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine, its first app for inspiring engineers. Your kids will learn the basics of cartoons and create her own one-second animated GiFs. (6 years+, free; iphone iPad)
1.Which of the apps can teach kids to care about the environment?
A.Elmo Loves 123s. B.Habitat the Game.
C.Disney Story Central. D.GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine.
2.What do we know about Disney Story Central?
A.It is designed for girls. B.It is suitable for all ages.
C.It offers rewards to advancers. D.It offers free books to iPhone users.
3.Who is the text most probably written for?
A.Young engineers. B.Parents.
C.Game developers. D.Teenagers.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Suppose you are about to complete high school and are thinking about attending a college or university. After doing some research, you find a school you would like to attend, but have questions about the application process. So you go to the school’s website in the hope of finding a few answers.
Time goes by and you, a student, still do not have the answers. You almost feel like giving up. But today, as you can see, artificial intelligence is so advanced. You find a message appears on your computer or personal electronic device. It says something like: ''How can I help? '' Writing back to the website, you try to explain your problem. You possibly get a few questions to clarify what your concerns are. Then, almost immediately, the person with whom you are in contact provides the information you are seeking.
In fact, you are not actually communicating with a school official. You are not even dealing with a human being. You are in contact with a computer program, or chatbot. It is using artificial intelligence, AI for short, to understand and communicate with you. This might sound strange. But chances are that this would not be the first time you have communicated with a computer program without knowing it. In recent years, chatbots have become a common tool for banks and large companies around the world.
Having human beings available to answer people’s questions and complaints can be costly, requiring many workers. And in most cases, employees can only work for several hours in a day, increasing customers’ waiting time for a response, but the chatbot can work around the clock. So not only companies, but a growing number of universities have also begun using the chatbot technology.
Australia's University of Adelaide noted a major improvement in its service to student after employing a chathot to deal with application questions in 2018. It said that students received responses 13 times faster, and students’ approval of the quality of service increased by 60 percent. And just the speed of reacting to questions is the chatbot's major strength.
1.How does the author introduce the topic of the text?
A.By assumption. B.By comparison.
C.By definition. D.By data.
2.What's the main purpose of paragraph 2?
A.To tell time and tide wait for no man.
B.To advise students should clarify their questions.
C.To present the communication convenience brought by Al.
D.To show the phenomenon that students are addicted to computers.
3.What is the main advantage of the chatbot technology?
A.Its low cost. B.Its ease of use.
C.Its short working hours. D.Its quick response.
4.What is the main idea of the text?
A.Artificial intelligence is developing rapidly.
B.Robots are gradually replacing human services.
C.Employees chat with robots without knowing them.
D.More universities use chatbots to communicate online.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
The African grey parrot’s ability to talk and mimic sounds makes it a charming companion. African grey owners often report that their greys oftentimes talk in context and can understand their people’s emotions (情感). The African grey parrot is not just a top talker - this bird is also known for its extreme intelligence, which gives them the name “The Einsteins of the Bird World”.
The bird is medium-sized, dusty-looking and almost pigeon-like. It has a bright red tail, intelligent orange eyes, and a stunning scalloped (扇形的) pattern to its feathers. Their diet in the wild consists mostly of nuts, seeds, fruits, and leafy matter.
At home, African greys need plenty of toys that challenge their intelligence, such as food searching and puzzle toys. Nutri-Berries by Lafeber Company are a perfect choice, which, with a balance of grains, seeds and other nutrients in the shape of a berry, encourages African greys to hold, bite off, and even play with, just as they do in the wild.
African greys seem especially affected by stress and disturbing noise in their environment and can be put more at ease by placing one corner of the cage against a wall as opposed to in the middle of a room.
African grey parrots are more likely to suffer from lack of Vitamin-A/beta-carotene, and therefore benefit from eating vegetables high in beta-carotene, such as cooked sweet potato and fresh kale. Lack of Vitamin-D is another concern, especially for greys on a poor diet. Offering a balanced, pill-shaped diet, such as Nutri-Berries, helps prevent vitamin and mineral shortage.
1.Why are African grey parrots called “The Einsteins of the Bird World”?
A.Because of their brain size. B.On account of their intelligence.
C.Owing to their rich emotions. D.Due to their talking ability.
2.What can “Nutri-Berries” probably be?
A.A brand of bird food. B.Puzzle toys for birds.
C.A type of round fruit. D.Wild Intelligence games.
3.What is the characteristic of African grey parrots?
A.They may get ill due to lack of Vitamin
B.They prefer to stay in the middle of the room.
C.They are dusty looking with blue eyes.
D.They are smart and love to have fun.
4.Where can we most probably find the passage?
A.In a wildlife magazine. B.In science fiction.
C.In a travel guide. D.On a shopping website.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Fever has usually been regarded as a threat to health. However, no one has actually proved that fever is dangerous. This fact attracted the attention of Matthew J. Kluger. Imagining that fever might not be as harmful as it had been supposed, Kluger set up a series of experiments with lizards (蜥蜴).
What Kluger and his team did in their first experiment was simple. They put some lizards in a sand-box, one end of which was heated to 44°C, while the other was at a room temperature. It was found that the lizards moved from one part of the box to the other in order to keep a constant temperature of about 38°C. Having shown that normal lizards regulate (调节) their own temperature, Kluger, in a second experiment, then set out to show that lizards, like most other animals, develop fever when infected (感染). This was done by making lizards infected with bacteria (细菌) that were known to cause disease. As the team expected, the infected lizards remained longer in the heated part of the box, until they had raised their body temperatures to two or three degrees above normal. In other words, the sick lizards gave themselves fever.
In a third experiment, the team observed the effect of temperature on the survival of the lizards. One group of infected lizards was given a fever-suppressing (退烧) drug. The other group was given no drug and ran a fever, that is to say, they kept a higher temperature for four or five days before seeking a cooler environment. The results were impressive. Of those which raised their body temperature, all but one remained alive. Of those given the fever-suppressing drug, more than half died. Similar results have since been produced in other animals. For example, infected fish swim to warmer water, and will die if not allowed to do so.
An important conclusion can be drawn from these experiments. As Kluger points out, lizards have been on earth for hundreds of millions of years. It is reasonable to suppose that a response that is so old has been kept by nature for some purpose. It would appear, therefore, that fever does not make disease worse. Rather it is part of the mechanism (机能) by which infection is controlled.
1.In his experiments, Kluger was hoping to prove that fever ______.
A.is not harmful to lizards
B.is necessary for both humans and animals
C.is not necessarily bad
D.has the same effect on humans and animals
2.In the third experiment, the lizards given a fever-suppressing drug died because ______.
A.they had no more fever that they needed
B.they were normal ones and had no fever
C.the drug had no effect on sick lizards
D.the drug made their body temperature too low
3.How would you understand the underlined words “ a response ” in the last paragraph?
A.Recovery from disease
B.Natural defense in the body against disease.
C.Cause of disease.
D.Relationship between living things and nature.
4.Which of the following is the best summary of this article?
A.Lizards are most suitable for experiments on fever.
B.Fever may play an important part in curing disease.
C.Fever helps lizards to get rid of infection.
D.Lizards and humans are not as different as people supposed.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
When I was a child my father taught me five words that I’ve used all my life—in my acting career, as a mother, in my business activities. If I _________ that I was afraid of the dark, or if I seemed worried about meeting new people, Dad would say, ''Stand porter to your _________.''
A porter is a gatekeeper, who stands at a door _________ people in or out. Dad would get me to _________ myself stopping destructive things—such as fear—at the door, _________ saying ''Come in'' to faith, love and self-assurance.
As an actress, before I went on camera, I'd make sure anxiety _________ and confidence in my ability came in. As a mother, when I was _________ about my children, I would try not to let worry in but would _________ my mind with trust in them.
Of course, there were always times I'd _________ those words.
In 1972 my husband, Fillmore Crank, and I opened the doors to our own __________ in North Hollywood. This was a new business venture for us, and it was a lot more __________ and complicated than we had __________,
We were on call 24 hours a day. Something was always going __________. Electricity went on the blink, food wasn't delivered, employees called in sick. Once, a flu epidemic __________left us with no maids. Fillmore gave me a __________：scrub floors or do the laundry. For 10 days I folded enough king-size sheets to __________ the whole state of California.
Then there was the __________ crisis. The price of gasoline doubled, and tourism in California __________. How could we fill our beds? What if we kept losing money? What if we failed? Fear and worry were sneaking in. But I caught them just __________. I stood porter.
I stood in the door of my mind and sent fear packing.
These days at the hotel, whenever fear tries to __________, I just smile and point to the sign that reads No Vacancy.
1.A.recalled B.decided C.complain D.announced
2.A.family B.studio C.future D.mind
3.A.inviting B.observing C.letting D.urging
4.A.send B.picture C.busy D.involve
5.A.but B.or C.so D.for
6.A.cut in B.broke down C.showed up D.stayed out
7.A.anxious B.cautious C.serious D.curious
8.A.read B.ease C.fill D.change
9.A.exchange B.forget C.eat D.twist
10.A.laundry B.restaurant C.clinic D.hotel
11.A.convincing B.boring C.promising D.demanding
12.A.deduced B.suggested C.figured D.confirmed
13.A.wrong B.pale C.sour D.missing
14.A.specially B.suddenly C.hardly D.regularly
15.A.choice B.solution C.warning D.command
16.A.decorate B.blanket C.serve D.touch
17.A.identity B.family C.credit D.energy
18.A.dropped B.boomed C.ceased D.recovered
19.A.at random B.by chance C.in time D.on purpose
20.A.withdraw B.register C.split D.shelter
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处，每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：把缺词处加一个漏符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Last Friday afternoon, I stayed home. When night fell, my parents wasn't back home yet. I stopped doing my homework but decided to make a meal for my family instead of just wait. With no experience of cooking, I went online to find informations for how to cook home-style dishes. With the step-by-step directions, I managed to made one dish. Feeling confident, so I made two more. When parents got home, they were amazed to see the taste dishes I had made. Immediately my mum took pictures for them and my dad gave me a big hug. We real enjoyed the meal that evening.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，新落成的外文书店为增加访客量，现向市民征求建议，请给书店经理Mr Davis写一封建议信，内容包括：
1.拥有宽敞的空间以提供良好的阅读体验
2.提供咨询，讲座等服务
3.其他建议（至少一条）
要求：1.词数100左右
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯
Dear Mr Davis,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
难度: 中等查看答案及解析